


Consider The Moon

by AvocadoLove



Series: Consider Chaos [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Avatar Zuko (Avatar), Chaos, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Zuko (Avatar), Spiritual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26286238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvocadoLove/pseuds/AvocadoLove
Summary: Learning to bend his opposite element was always going to be difficult, but if Zuko can’t figure out how to do it by morning, he and Toph will die.He’ll have to petition the spirits, but he may already be in too deep. Water is as changeable as the phases of the moon, and the gift he receives will be more than he bargained for.
Relationships: Toph Beifong & Zuko, Vaatu & Zuko (Avatar), Yue & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Consider Chaos [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853452
Comments: 557
Kudos: 2162





	1. Chapter 1

Zuko and Toph did not realize they were in trouble until they were two days walk into the dry, deserted valley.

The land had been growing steadily more sandy, which messed with both their earthsenses. But Toph was interested to see if she could find a way to work past it.

“Sandbending,” she had said with a shrug. “I’m going to make it a thing.”

Zuko admired that about her. Toph was solid, but never stagnant. She claimed she was the best earthbender in the world, and was determined to overcome any obstacle to prove it.

There was no sign of towns or other travelers in the valley. Zuko wasn't concerned—they had a full pack of supplies from the last town.

By midmorning, it was already unseasonably hot for early spring. The air was dry as an old, cracked bone and yet… unusually oppressive. When he took off his blindfold, he saw they stood on flat, parched earth in the middle of a bowl. Distant mountain ranges surrounded them on all sides. He scuffed a bare foot against the ground and felt with his earthsense as far as he could.

“There’s nothing out here,” he said. "Should we go back?"

Toph wiggled her toes. "Nothing interesting behind us, either. Let's keep going."

He nodded, replaced his blindfold, and they set out again.

Although his feet had grown tough from weeks of walking barefoot, and the badgermole tunnels before that, the baked earth grew uncomfortably hot—even for him. The blindfold over his eyes itched with sweat, and he slipped it off, wiping his forehead.

There wasn't so much as a tree anywhere to offer shade.

"This sucks," Toph said, pulling up to a halt a few hours later. "I'm taking a break."

Then, with two strong jabs and a kick, she bent a rocky overhang to block the worst of the sun. But the soil was crumbly and the shelter started to disintegratealmost as soon as it was up. Zuko had to reinforce it with his own bending.

Looking back, that should have been his first sign that Toph was not okay.

She napped through the rest of the day without waking up to throw a single rock at Zuko's head. He considered it an unusual reprieve and spent the evening relaxing. There wasn't so much as a twig to start a campfire—but out in the flat plain, the night was peaceful. The stars wheeled across the sky in brilliant diamond patterns.

They set out again the next day after a quick breakfast of hard biscuits and jerky. No campfire meant no jook to cook.

Again, Zuko went without his blindfold and again Toph said nothing. In fact, she was unusually silent, as if focused only on placing one foot in front of the other.

"You okay?" he asked.

Her reply was to kick a spike of earth in his path. "Keep your eyes in your toes, Turtleduck."

"That doesn't make sense," he complained, but knew a brush-off when he heard one. She probably found this place as dull as he did and couldn't wait to get out of there.

She collapsed shortly after noon. One moment she was walking, the next she staggered and fell to all fours, shaking her head back and forth as if she had trouble telling up from down.

"Toph!" He ran to her, touched her arm to help her up, and recoiled.

Her skin was fever-hot and the earth around her pounded with her, shallow, rapid heart beat.

"You're sick," Zuko snapped. "Why didn't you say anything?"

“Because I'm fine!"

"No, you're not. No—Don't get up. Here." Slamming the back of his hands against the earth, he bent a hole in that led to a sloping underground tunnel. Then, ignoring her curses, he helped her to stand and escorted her down.

It was marginally cooler under the blazing hot soil, but it also let no fresh air in. Soon, the tunnel was stifling.

Zuko checked their waterskins. They were both three-quarters empty.

He made jook that night—measuring their remaining water carefully and boiling the porridge with a flame under his own hand. He added extra salt because he suspected Toph had sweated all the minerals out.

"I'm not sick," she insisted, grumpily. Her skin was flushed and her forehead was already peeling with sunburn.

"You have sunstroke,” he corrected. “I know the signs." And there was nothing and no one around to help them. No human habitation. Just gray-brown baked earth, and far off, the mountains. "We have to get out of here. Those mountains are trapping the heat in. We'll head for them tomorrow."

Toph nodded and sipped her jook. She managed about half before she gave up, curling back into a ball to fall asleep.

Zuko realized Vaatu had been unusually silent in his mind.

 _‘Any ideas?’_ he thought.

The spirit was silent for a moment. _You are naturally more resilient to the heat than the girl, but your body is reaching its limits. Another day, two at the most, and you will be no better than she is._

 _‘I know that,’_ he snapped. _‘What do I do?’_

Another long silence.

 _This is a valley of death. If you travel directly toward the mountains for the next three nights, unhindered,_ **you** _may have a chance._

 _‘Unhindered?’_ Zuko stopped as horror swept over him. His gaze flicked to Toph’s sleeping form and back. _‘How can you even suggest that!?’_

 _Vessel._ Vaatu’s voice was the most gentle Zuko had ever heard it. _Creatures die and are reborn every moment of every day on this planet. It is not your fault._

 _‘So that's it? You want me to abandon her here?’_ He was disgusted. _‘So… so, what? Did Raava get the compassion out of the two of you?’_

 _Love and compassion do not belong only to myself or Raava._ Vaatu replied almost primly. _This is a matter of survival._

“I’m not leaving her,” he snarled aloud and then shot a guilty glance at Toph. She stirred, but did not wake.

Vaatu said no more.

* * *

They didn’t have enough water for jook the next morning. They both gnawed half-heartedly on biscuits before they set out. That’s when Toph decided to be stubborn.

"I can walk," she said. "You need to carry me. I'm not weak.”

“When did I say you were weak?” he demanded.

“Let me carry you, Toph.” Her voice lifted to a nasal upswing that spoke of parody. “I’ll make the shelter, Toph. Here, drink my water, Toph. You need it more than I do.”

Annoyed, he dropped to his knees before her and roughly grabbed her hands, bringing heat into his palms. Not enough to start flame, but hot enough to give her a shock a surprise.

"I was born a _firebender_ ,” he said. “I am adapted for extreme temperatures. Can you exhale heat out of your body?”

She blinked. “You can do that?"

“It's called the breath of fire. I can warm myself with it, too. My uncle taught it to me," he said stiffly, remembering those old lessons. What advice would his uncle have for him now? Probably some metaphor about endurance. Then he grew stern again. “You're not sensitive to the heat because you’re weak, you're just a different kind of strong. Earthbenders can take hits that would shatter my bones.” It was common knowledge within the Fire Nation military: You had to defeat earthbenders with fire or blade because they had rock in their bones… and their heads.

Toph cocked her head. “I didn’t know that.”

“My uncle used to say all the nations have their strengths,” he said, “So stop whining. Our water’s almost gone, and we need to get out of here."

Her mouth formed a moue of distaste. “I really can walk for a while," she insisted. “Save your strength, Turtleduck.”

“Fine, but we’re getting out of this valley today, so we’re going to travel light.”

He didn’t say that if they didn’t find a way out of the valley soon… neither one would make it. So, they abandoned their packs and took only the coin and the last of their precious water. Then they set out.

The day was even hotter than before. Within a couple hours, Toph was flagging.

Zuko bent. “Climb on my back.”

“Fine,” she grumbled, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I guess I won't earthbend anything fun in your path today. I'm giving you a day off."

His lips twitched. “That's very kind of you, Sifu Toph.”

He hoisted her up and kept moving.

Zuko walked through the afternoon, using the breath of fire to exhale heat. After a while, it didn’t seem to matter—he drew in heat back in with every breath. The sun radiated down like an open furnace, and reflected back up at them from the cracked earth.

Toph was silent and limp, and he suspected she was dozing, when suddenly her body went tense. She pushed on his shoulders, slurring, “Let me down… Let me down…”

Bending quickly, he did. She crawled on all fours away, retching into the dust.

Zuko looked on, worried, but giving her space. He hated it when people hovered around him whenever he’d been nauseated.

A wave of dizziness hit him and he staggered where he stood, gritting his teeth to keep himself upright. The worst passed after a minute.

Stopping had been a bad idea. His head throbbed, and the distant mountains wavered with more than just heat. It was as if they hadn’t gotten any closer to them at all. The more he looked, the more they seemed to dance in front of him. Double-vision. And he was so, so thirsty.

Both water skins were empty.

Toph stopped retching, and it was hard for her to stand long enough to climb on his back again: She was very weak and he still felt very unsteady on his feet. Somehow, they managed it and he walked on.

An hour later, he had to stop. The heat was too much, even for him.

He earthbent a shallow tunnel by sheer will rather than finesse. They both collapsed into it.

Toph was boneless, her skin red and flushed and weirdly dry.

“Toph.” He shook her shoulder. “Toph, wake up.”

She muttered something he couldn’t understand, but didn’t open her eyes.

 _Vessel_ , Vaatu murmured deep within his heart.

He grit his teeth. “Don’t say it. I’m not abandoning her.”

_No, it is too late for that. Your body is on the edge of crisis. You have no chance of making it to the mountains._

“Then what do you want?”

_I have spent the day in thought. It is not ideal, but there may be a way to save you both._

His heart leapt. “I’m listening.”

 _The girl needs_ **water** _._

“I know! But I don't exactly see any rivers around—"

He stopped.

For weeks, he had dreamed of the meaning of the earth while trapped in the badgermole tunnels: The many layers, cracks, fault lines through the crust... how rock sheered by glaciers and eroded away by water. Deep places where ancient caves cradled underground reservoirs…

Hope gave him new strength. Zuko rushed out of the tunnel, closed his eyes and slammed clawed hands into the soil. Deep, deep, down he sensed... _something_. A large void. From the way the rock was warped, it was probably water.

If he could reach that...

Zuko took a solid horse stance. Then he stabbed hands shaped like a blade towards the earth. The soil cracked underneath him. With each stab of his hands, he deepened the crack. Down and down. Further and further until he had reached the very limits of his earthsense.

He bent and put his good ear to the crack. He couldn’t hear the slosh of water. Smelled only dust.

"This is useless," he said and looked back to the tunnel where Toph slept.

 _Yes_ , Vaatu agreed. _As I was_ **about** _to say,_ _you cannot get what you need from the earth alone. You must connect with the element of water._

He sat back, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes. “Great, I’ll just do that. It only took me, what, six weeks underground last time?”

Toph was very, very ill. If he didn’t figure this out now…

 _She will soon pass the point of no return_ , Vaatu continued his thoughts.

There was pity in his dark voice, but not enough for Zuko's taste considering last night he had suggested abandoning her.

 _Only because this second solution is very likely to fail and kill you in the process_ , Vaatu said.

Zuko eyed the crack in the earth. “Please don’t tell me I should jump down there and find the water that way.” Yes, he had his earthsense to guide him, but to open up a crack large enough for a human being and that deep…

 _No._ _You must ask for aid._

“From who? There’s no one else here!”

_Vessel, look to the east._

Zuko glanced at the evening horizon. His acid comment died on his tongue. The full moon was starting to rise.

Now Vaatu sounded amused. _Let us hope the Spirit of the Moon is in a favorable mood._

He doubted it, considering the Moon was one of the patron spirits of the Water Tribe, but Zuko was willing to grasp onto any hope. “What do I need to do?"

_I will help you pass into the spirit world. We will start with meditation._

Zuko sat and crossed his legs, facing the moon. It was a good thing he'd grown used to dealing with pain while meditating after the Agni Kai. His throat was parched, his head throbbed with every movement, and his joints ached as if he had a fever.

He let the discomfort wash over him—not fighting it, but simply acknowledging its existence and allowing himself to be in the present. Breathing evenly, he focused on the moon as it rose high, fat, and bright in the fading night.

A blast of arctic air hit him in the face. Instantly, he was plunged in a cold so deep there was no relief from being yanked out of the desert.

Zuko opened his eyes… When had he closed them?.

The dry, baked plain was now a crystalline field of ice. The moon was gone.

And a girl his age with silver white hair and a flowing white dress stood a few steps away, glaring down at him. The edges of her ethereal dress floated as if she stood in water.

“Do I know you?" he blurted, and then it clicked. He stood to his feet, confused. "You're the Water Tribe princess?"

The girl seemed to swell in annoyance. "Why has the Avatar of Chaos called me?"

 _Vessel_ , Vaatu said, _You are standing in the presence of the Spirit of the Moon, Yue._

Zuko's good eye widened. He hastily bowed—although internally he wondered why Avatar Aang had been traveling with the Spirit of the Moon during the siege. Why had she been in mortal form? Surely, there would have been safer places for her to be…

"I apologize, Moon Spirit, Yue. I did not realize who you were."

“Perhaps because when we last met, I was as mortal as you," Yue replied tartly. "What do you want?"

He licked ice off his dry lips. It wasn’t real and did nothing for his thirst. “I need to learn how to waterbend. Um, by morning.”

The winds of the spirit world picked up, throwing ice in stinging particles. Grimacing, he put up a hand to shield his face.

"How dare you ask for my help!" Yue snapped. "Your people attacked my home without provocation. _You_ personally broke the sanctity of my temple to kidnap Avatar Aang."

He lowered his hand, glaring back at her. “I was not part of the forces who attacked your city, and I failed to capture the other Avatar. You were there, remember?"

"I remember an enemy prince who was too arrogant to ask for help."

"Well, I'm asking now!" he shouted back.

"You distracted Avatar Aang and allowed Zhao to kill the previous Spirit of the Moon."

Vaatu cursed.

Zuko paused, several things clicking together. That had been the night the Moon had turned blood red and then disappeared from the sky—the moment he had stumbled into the spirit world, and the Tree of Time.

"You became the vessel of the moon that night,” he breathed.

She gazed down at him, as imperious as the princess she used to be. “I returned the life that was given to me."

Interesting, but they didn't have time for this. He shook his head and tried to get back on track. “Maybe if I hadn’t been there, Avatar Aang could have stopped Zhao before he killed the first Moon Spirit. But probably not. Zhao was a blowhard, but a decorated officer. He had the biggest and best-trained army the Fire Nation could muster behind him—“

 _Stop praising the Fire Nation army in front of her_ , Vaatu advised.

“—But things are different now," he finished, his words feeling limp. “ _I’m_ different.”

She gave him an arch look. "Are you?”

Zuko grit his teeth. "I... was in the wrong," he admitted. “Although I cannot honorably apologize for what I did back then, because I _believed_ I was doing good. I was under orders from my father, the Fire Lord. I didn't know I was falling into Raava’s trap."

"You are blaming the spirit of order's fault for your misdeeds," she said flatly.

“No, not my personal misdeeds. But any idiot can see the balance of the world has been disrupted in the name of Order. For the last hundred years, every mile of free land the Fire Nation conquered has been put under the Fire Lord's rule. What else would you call it?"

Yue said nothing. She watched Zuko, her blue eyes coldly narrowed.

 _I do believe she is considering smiting you_ , Vaatu remarked.

 _‘She can do that?’_ he thought back, alarmed.

_I don’t know why she hasn’t already. Speak quickly, and choose better words._

But Zuko didn’t have a better argument. All he had was the truth, and a plea.

"You don't believe me—Fine," he said, "I'll figure out how to waterbend myself, but please…. Please, is there any way you can help my friend, Toph?" He gestured to the dark hole in the ice field that reflected the tunnel in reality. "She's my earthbending master and my friend, and she's dying without water.You don’t have to agree with me, but _please_ tell me where the closest stream is. Can't you see one from the sky?"

Her gaze fell to the tunnel, and for the first time her expression softened. "The closest river is perhaps four days travel."

Zuko stared, feeling the bottom drop out of his stomach. “She doesn't have four days.”

"Isn't that the nature of chaos?” Yue asked. “That the strong overpower the weak?"

"I don't know," he snapped. "That sounds very orderly to me."

He meant it sincerely, but Yue's stern expression cracked into a reluctant smile.

She folded her hands into her wide, billowing sleeves. "Only the Lion Turtles can give the power of waterbending.”

“I don’t suppose one of those is within reach, either?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“Then I’ll have to understand and connect with water, as I did with earth.” He nodded to himself. “That’s fine. I’m used to learning things the hard way. But…”

But even if Yue threw him in the middle of the ocean, or whatever Vaatu had planned, Toph didn’t have _time_ for him to learn.

Yue seemed to read his mind. “I sense the girl has quite the destiny unfolding in front of her.” She looked down and frowned before meeting Zuko’s gaze. “If your claims are true, if you do not still cling to the ideals and false superiority of the Fire Nation, I can accelerate your understanding of water.”

“Really?” he blurted, looking up, hardly daring to hope.

She nodded, but her expression was grim. “I do this for Toph’s sake, and Avatar Aang’s. Not yours. However, to have any chance you must be willing to _completely_ open your heart and mind to element of water.”

"Yes," he said immediately, ignoring the barb about the other Avatar. "I'll do whatever I need to do."

"It will be dangerous. You were born a firebender. Water is your elemental and spiritual opposite. If you fight the knowledge, it will shred you from the inside out."

"I told you," Zuko said evenly. “I’ll do whatever it takes."

Vaatu spoke up, deep and resonant. When Zuko glanced down, he saw the outline of the spirit glowing bright red, electric blue, and brilliant purple through his chest. _I will help mitigate the damage. Do not hold back. If this does not work, both children will die._

"So be it." Yue looked at Zuko. "Kneel."

He did as he was told. _‘She's enjoying this,’_ he thought very quietly to Vaatu. _‘I bet she wouldn’t tell Avatar Aang to kneel.’_

He got a wash of amusement in reply, but Vaatu did not disagree.

The beautiful girl who had once been Princess Yue raised one hand and pressed it to his forehead.

… Waves crashing on ice, running up and smooth sandy beaches, beating over and over against crumbling cliffs…

He was locked within mile deep glaciers older than human memory, crushed so deep under the ocean that light did not reach, and floated among the steam which rose over humid jungles.

He did not perceive the three states of water: He _was_ liquid, gas, ice. Ever-changing. Rained down on the planet by distant meteors, destroyed only by the hottest lightning, recombined again out of the air itself.

He was the trickle of a stream, the raging current, the vapor within the spiraling air.

He was within life, all life. He was the blood, the means that flesh needed to transport nutrients, the water breathed from the lungs in every exhale.

He was pulled by the moon as she circled in an endless dance. Pushed back by the sheer weight of the ocean.

His lungs filled with water, his skin sloughed ice, and his blood boiled, and he did not know what was real or what was not.He was the current, the endless cycle renewed again and again by the rain, the clouds, the frost. His mind could only comprehend a fraction of a fraction of it all. His spirit, merged with Vaatu for support, took the rest.

To fight the flood of images and sensations was to try to fight a tsunami. He was swept up, tumbled over, drowned again and again.

He would have screamed but he was in too deep... Too deep...

The ever-present flame inside flickered.

And in that moment, on the verge of losing himself despite Vaatu’s efforts, Zuko understood.

He opened his eyes.

He lay flat on his back in the material world. The moon had crossed the night sky only halfway, though he had felt like a lifetime of understanding had been stuffed into his mind.

Although it was night, the hard-packed earth radiated uncomfortable heat under him. His head felt like it had been split open and sewn back together again. Several times. His ears were oddly plugged, and there was the taste of copper in his mouth.

He felt his own blood—the water in it—where it had leaked from his ears and nose.

 _Water_ , he thought and turned to strike a palm down on the ground. With his earthsense, he reached downward.

He saw, and understood, more than ever before. The tiny push and pull from trickles of water where it leaked through tiny cracks in the rocks... an entire network of streams and rivers like veins in a human body. A river system traveled from the distant mountains under the valley. It flowed down, down, down to that void he had first sensed in the rock: A vast underground reservoir.

Zuko knew what he needed to do.

Breathing heavily, blood still leaking from ears, nose, and the corners of his eyes, he pulled himself upright. Then he took a horse stance over the crack he'd made in the soil—a few hours and an entire lifetime of understanding ago.

His hands shot down, curling his fingers to reform the crack into a narrow tube. He knew the nature of water now, and how it traveled from a place of high pressure to low pressure. That done, he stabbed down with pointed fingers again and again, drilling past the boundaries of his earthsense to a distant reservoir that pushed and pulled at his senses.

He felt it at last: the release of water held captive and compressed too long.

With the power of the full moon singing in his veins, he lifted his hand and called the water up and up. He showed it the way to freedom. The hole gave a deep gurgling sound. Mist sprayed out before water—clean and cold—glugged out.

Zuko stomped and the earth twenty feet in a circle became as hard as rock so the water would not seep back down. Then he raised a border of rock at the edges of the circle to create a pool.

He felt disconnected from his body, almost delirious with exhaustion. His heart beat wildly as if he had run for hours… but he could not stop.

Only one more thing to do, and it was as important as all the rest.

He breathed in and out and called his fire—the element which would always be tied closest to him. With smooth movements borne by years of practice calligraphy, he drew hot flame around the perimeter of the slowly filling pool: A circle so hot it glowed briefly orange in the rock before it cooled to black etching. Then within that circle, he drew a second line of curving fire into a crescent: The universal sigil for the two beginning and ending phases of the moon.

 _You have done well, Vessel,_ Vaatu said. For the first time, his voice was full of pride.

Zuko didn't have it in him to respond. He listed dangerously to one side before he caught himself and stood straight.

Then he turned to Yue, who had been watching him silently. He lifted a hand to the pool. "For you," he said stiffly. "I can't undo what happened to the Northern Water Tribe, but now, _here_ , will be a place of life and not death. Trapped animals and people will drink, recover, and have a chance to escape the valley. They will see the mark of the moon and honor you for it."

"An oasis in the desert," Yue said. "I think I like your brand of Chaos, Avatar Zuko."

With a serene smile that made her look quite lovely, she stepped forward and cupped his bloodied face to kiss his brow. A pulse of her power rushed through him and settled into his blood.

"In return, I grant you a gift of my own," she said. "Use it to help your friend, and others who are in need.”

“… I don't understand."

Her mischievous smile was all the answer he received. "You will find your master to the east."

 _East again_ , he thought ruefully.

"One more thing,” Yue said.

"Yes?"

"When you see Sokka,” she said. “Tell him I said hello."

 _The Water Tribe idiot?_ he thought, but bowed anyway. "I will."

Yue returned the bow, Water Tribe style, and faded. The moon shined brightly down on him.

It took everything, absolutely everything Zuko had remaining, to walk to the tunnel, gather Toph in his arms, and carry her to the pool.

Water bubbled peacefully up from the hole. It had not yet reached the raised edges. It would continue to fill the pool, spill over the top, and refill with the strength of the underground river, the waxing and waning of the moon.

He more or less fell to his knees and propped Toph on the inside, resting her upright against the lip. The pool was only a foot deep. She would not be in danger of drowning.

Zuko didn't have the strength to climb in and join her. He fainted dead away just outside the oasis he had created.

* * *

He woke to cold water splashing his face.

Zuko opened his mouth to complain, but more water hit him and he sputtered.

"Hold still," Toph's ragged voice commanded. "You smell like blood."

Through bleary eyes, he saw she was squirting him with her water skin. He snatched it out of her hand and drank deeply. The water was cold and sweet and the best thing he had ever tasted.

It wasn't enough. He crawled to the edge of the now-filled pool and ducked his head in, splashing deliciously cool water over himself.

Gasping, he sat up again and looked around. The oasis had mostly filled overnight, and although the air from the valley was as hot as ever, the cold water made it comfortable. In the distance, a flock of birds arrowed towards them, clearly intent on taking a drink.

Toph regarded him with amusement. She still lay in the cool water, looking sunburnt and sick, but had regained some of her attitude. She gestured to the oasis. "You did this?"

"Yeah," he said, leaning against the lip of the pool. His voice was a wreak. "Went to the spirit world...I can waterbend now."

She shook her head. "I can't believe my student Turtleduck created a pond."

He looked blankly at her, then chuckled, low and raspy. He brought down his hand and splashed her.

Toph shrieked, for once like the twelve-year-old she was and kicked a splash back at him.

Minutes later, the small flock of exhausted flamingo-hawks landed to drink on the other side of the oasis, well away from the two humans and their splash-war.

* * *

Check out my Tumblr for Avatar stuff, memes, and fanfic rambling.  
awesomeavocadolove.tumblr.com


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys… the response and the guesses on who will be Zuko’s waterbending master is incredible. 
> 
> A few people ended up guessing correctly! For those who were hoping for something else, all I ask is that you roll with this. It’s all part of a larger plan~~~~. 
> 
> (We’re going in chaotic places, guys. It’s gonna be fun.)

“I’ve been to plenty of doctors,” Toph said, feet placed in her most solid, stubborn stance. “And I gotta say, I’ve never _seen_ much use in them.”

“That was then. You aren’t well, _now_ ,” Zuko said.

Toph waited a beat, expectantly, for Zuko to catch on.

He did and sighed. “Right. Because you can’t see.”

“Bingo.” She grinned at him, brighter then she’d managed in the last three days. It was all for show, and it added fuel to his frustration.

Punching a fist down, he twisted his wrist. The earth under Toph’s feet shifted a few degrees to the left. It was her favorite trick—one she’d played on him a dozen times.

Toph stumbled and nearly fell.

“You’re feeling fine, huh?” he asked.

She straightened up, lips pressing together. “You looking to eat a dirt sandwich, Turtleduck?”

“Maybe I am!” The last of his temper frayed in a way it hardly did anymore. But Toph was being stubborn, and it was putting her in danger. He backed a few steps, opening up his arms in challenge. “Show me the best you got, Sifu Best Earthbender In The World… Unless you don’t have your stuff right now.”

Toph was still for the space of five terrible heartbeats, then turned to walk away, fists clenched. “You’re not worth it.”

Like he hadn’t heard that all his life. (Like it didn’t hurt every single time…) Zuko shoved the pain away with long practice. He jogged a few steps to catch up to her, and the fact that she allowed it when she was this angry off spoke volumes.

“I know what it’s like. I got hurt, once. Really bad. My Uncle went on and on about making me rest, letting my body heal. Back then, I thought I hated him for it. Now… I think I was just angry at myself.”

Toph said nothing, but the slight tilt of her head told Zuko she was at least listening. That was one thing about Toph: She always listened.

“It’s awful not to be at one-hundred percent. I kept pushing and pushing. I thought—I don’t know—that if I told myself that healing was the same as being weak, ” he continued and then snorted. “But I had a dizzy spell at the wrong time. I almost fell off a cliff.”

“There’s a lot of cliffs in the Fire Nation?” The false brightness was gone. Her voice was rusty and tired.

“No, I was at one of the Air Temples—it doesn’t matter. The point is, I would have healed a lot faster if I sat down and drank crappy tea for a few hours a day like he wanted. Instead, I powered through, and it was awful. Then, it almost got me killed.” He had never told anyone that before. If he saw Uncle again, he would bow down and thank him for his patience because being around someone who was sick and wouldn’t admit it made him want to pull out his hair in frustration. “I’m not asking you to drink tea and play pai sho. I’m just asking you to check in with a doctor when we finally reach a town. And if they’re not a total idiot, follow their directions.”

“Fine.”

One word, but it said a lot that Toph would give up that much ground.

He exhaled. “Thank you, Toph.”

* * *

They finally, _finally_ made it out of the terrible valley a week after leaving the oasis. Even with Zuko’s new skill at finding sources of water, it had been rough.

Toph had not fully recovered from her heat exhaustion. The oasis had brought her from the edge, but they had not dared to stay for more than two days. They needed food, and they needed to get moving.

Toph insisted she was fine, but she wasn’t. It was clear in the little things. Her earthbending was less precise. She tired easily, needing constant breaks when she before charged through the day like a tiny bull. Sometimes she stumbled as if fighting off dizziness.

It didn’t help that the weather continued to be uncomfortably hot, even for Zuko. They’d learned the hard way to travel at night and the cool hours of the morning, but that still left the heat of the day to endure.

Now the valley was behind them, the temperature dropped to something close to a normal spring day. And Zuko’s earth-sense told him there was a town ahead: A large one.

They went to the general store, and the merchant openly guffawed when Zuko asked about a doctor.

“You’re joking, m’boy. This village happens to have the best healer in a week’s travel in any direction.”

“I’m not looking for an herbalist,” Zuko said. “My… uh, _sister_ needs to see a medical professional.”

“Oh, she’s a professional all right. Her house is on the east side of town. You can’t miss it, but prepared for a wait.”

 _East side?_ Zuko frowned at the phrasing, but bowed quickly in thanks to the merchant.

“Healer, huh?” Toph asked wryly. “I _love_ those. If I had a coin for every time one of those tried to heal my eyes with a spirits-blessed crystal, I’d be a Beifong.”

Zuko scowled, but took her arm and pulled her along. When he laid his eyes on the house… his jaw dropped.

It was easily the largest in the village, two stories, and an additional basement below according to his feet, with banners of white and all shades of Water Tribe blue affixed to the porch banisters. There was also a line of people coming out the front door and stretched all the way around.

“Better and better,” Toph said with false cheer.

Zuko closed his eyes and counted to ten. It did not work. “Let’s get this over with.” At least Toph would get some enforced rest while they waited in line.

And wait they did. For an hour.

The person in front of them was a mother with a young child, perhaps two years old. He whined and picked at a dirty gray bandage covering his left hand up to his forearm. Sticking his fingers in his mouth, the boy stared over his mother’s shoulder at Zuko’s scar with miserable eyes. Then he patted his own left side of his face.

Zuko scowled and resisted the urge to blow a few sparks in his direction. Not to scare him, just distract him from staring so openly at his scar. Traveling with Toph… he’d gotten used to people not staring. For her part, the mother seemed horrified and smiled back in apology.

“What’s wrong?” Toph muttered, digging a toe in the ground. “You got a scary face?”

“Yes,” he said. “I do.”

She tilted her head, but said nothing.

They finally reached the intake nurse at the front of the line. She looked them up and down, frowning at their lack of bleeding or broken bones. “Why do you need to see the healer today?”

“We just came from the Valley to the West. Toph has got heat sickness, and I want to make sure she’s okay.” He cringed a little. There were people in line who were literally being wheeled in on carts. Though she wasn’t up to her usual standard, at least Toph was on her own two feet.

The nurse glanced at Toph and opened her mouth, probably to dismiss them as Zuko had heard her do to so many people before. That was when Toph stepped forward and pulled out a paper from a hidden pocket inside her tunic. It had a crest of a flying boar.

The nurse stared down at it. “Is that…?”

“Yup, the Beifong seal,” Toph’s voice took on a clipped enunciation that only slipped out when she was really annoyed: The voice and cadence of a noble. “I would appreciate whatever can be done.” She took the crest away, and in its place dropped three gold coins.

The nurse moved swiftly, scooping them in her palm. Then she stood and bowed. “Of course, Lady Beifong. If you two would follow me into the waiting room…”

“You know,” Zuko mused after they took their seats. “Sometimes you remind me of my little sister.”

Toph didn’t say anything, but turned her head in his direction in silent askance for more.

“She’s brilliant, a bending prodigy, and she knows how to get what she wants. But she…” A hundred different memories flashed through his mind, overlaid with his journey with Toph. She, too, strived to be the best, but as rough and rude as she could be, she had never been cruel. “Actually… never mind, you two aren’t much alike.”

“Sounds like there’s a story there.”

Zuko let some of his own upper-crust cadence fall into his voice. “It’s not a story for polite company.”

Her eyebrows rose, but she didn’t press. Instead, she shifted on the hard bench to lean against him. Soon, she looked to be on the verge of dozing off.

That was when the nurse appeared and gestured for them to follow her—well before anyone else in the waiting room.

Zuko could feel the glares on his back.

The lower bedrooms of the house had been converted into exam rooms. Only instead of a chair or a bed, there was a large tub of water big enough to bathe in.

An old small water tribe woman stood before the tub. The top of her head barely reached Zuko’s chest. Her hair, more slate gray than black, was separated into two loops in the front and neatly in the back. And her blue eyes were almost hidden from behind her wrinkles, a lifetime of squinting against bright snow. She gestured for the nurse to close the door.

“My name is Healer Yugoda.” Though her voice was deceptively calm, she eyed Toph critically. “So, this is the girl who is so deathly ill, my nurse insisted I step away from my critical care patients to see her.”

Toph stiffened.

Zuko tried not to fidget. “We just traveled from the Valley to the West, and—“

“If you escaped that spirits forsaken valley, you were luckier than most. Well,” Yugoda said, “what is done is done. Let’s make this quick.” She gestured to the tub and water streamed into her hands to form a globe.

Zuko watched greedily, trying to memorize the movements of her wrist, the push and pull he could perceive from a few steps away. He didn’t have Azula’s photographic memory, but—

Then the globe of water between the healer’s hands glowed an unearthly blue.

“What—“ he started.

“You did bring your sister in for healing, didn’t you?” Yugoda swept the globe up and down Toph’s arms and shoulders. Toph frowned at the sensation, but didn’t seem to be in pain.

“You can heal with… with _waterbending_?”

Zuko had never heard anything like that before. Elements were elements. An expression of the bender’s will, tools and weapons in the right hands… but healing?

“Right now, I’m only diagnosing,” Yugoda said tartly. Her brows furrowed, squinting her face in a further mass of wrinkles. “My goodness girl, how are you still standing?”

“What’s wrong with her?” Zuko demanded.

“No organ damage, but deep exhaustion. If she weren’t so young and usually healthy…” She frowned and looked at Zuko as if wondering if she should check him over, too.

Toph saved the day. “So what’s the verdict, doc? Take it easy for the next few days or what?”

Her attention snapped back to her. “Taking it easy for the next month would be preferable, but since there has been such a… generous donation to the hospital, I can speed along the process.” She spoke the last words as if there were ash in her mouth. “Disrobe and get into the tub.”

“Um, I’ll just…” Zuko hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward the door. The healer nodded and Toph shrugged. Clothes meant little to a girl whose toes told her everything anyway.

Zuko left and went back to the waiting room. He sat down, hard.

‘ _Did you know water could heal?_ ’ he asked Vaatu.

 _I know as much about bending as my vessel, and eventually the accumulation of the knowledge of your future lives,_ Vaatu said.

His fingers itched to reach up and touch his scar—he hardly let himself, it was a bad habit, but he did now. It was a scar, thick and years old.

 _The damage was extensive and intentionally deep,_ Vaatu _observed._

_‘You don’t know that. You weren’t there.’_

_I have your memories and your knowledge of firebending. What would it take, Vessel, to sear the skin of another firebender that deeply? Do you think Ozai did it on accident? That he misjudged?_

Zuko squeezed his eyes shut. He had never let himself think about his scar in those terms. It brought up the pain as if it were fresh and new.

Perhaps Vaatu sensed this because he said, _In any case, even if you had access to waterbending, I doubt it could have been healed without a mark._

 _‘No, but it might have saved me half a year of agony’_ , he thought. _‘And I might have more vision and hearing on my left side than I do now.’_

Could fire heal? He doubted it. Fire could bring heat to the cold, allow him to endure temperature extremes that had almost taken out a person as strong as Toph… but there was nothing healing about it.

He dropped his hand from his face and looked at his open palms.

_‘Can I heal?’_

He had been a little… unexcited about waterbending so far. Yes, he had opened the connection to water and understood it on a fundamental level. He and Toph had needed it in the desert, but in his opinion fire and earth were much more interesting.

Now, he felt a spark of excitement.

He looked around. The mother with the toddler was not in the waiting room. She hadn’t been picked to see the healer.

He rose and went outside.

* * *

He found them not too far away. The mother was sitting with her child in the shade of a nearby building. Her child was asleep, slumped against her shoulder, and she was quietly weeping.

Guilt twisted at his heart. Toph had bribed her way into the hospital, but she could very well have taken space that could have been used by the little boy.

With a pan of water in hand he’d borrowed from a nearby trough, Zuko cleared his throat, awkwardly.

The mother tensed and looked up. “Yes?”

“I, uh…” Agni, he was no good at this and it wasn’t like he could ask V to help. The spirit was blunt and overbearing, and that was not the correct way to approach a protective mother.

_‘Zuko, that’s what moms are like. If you mess with their babies, they’ll bite you back.’_

“I’m sorry,” Zuko blurted. “They couldn’t take your child?”

She shook her head. “They said his burn wasn’t bad enough for special healing. We traveled for days, and I…” She stopped, her lips trembling. Then she jutted out her chin. “But they took you two, and you seem to be fine.”

“I’m sorry,” he said lamely, “But I hoped—I thought, I could help?”

She stared. “How?”

“I’m a waterbender.” Wow, did those words feel stilted and unnatural coming out of his mouth. “I’m not very good yet, but I… know about burns. Soaking the injury will at least draw out the last of the fire. And you should probably get cleaner bandages for him, too.”

She looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. “These were all I had…”

“Okay.” He gestured to the pan of water. “Let’s just clean the wound and… Go from there?”

Was he seriously about to do what he thought he was about to do?

 _Or you could walk away right now, and leave that child’s burn to fester into probable infection,_ Vaatu said. _Does that make you feel better?_

“No it doesn’t, thanks,” he muttered.

“What?” the mother asked.

“Nothing. Here.” He helped unwind the bandage over the boy’s hand and arm, and it was worse than he thought. At a glance, the awful burn hadn’t been caused by fire but a pot of boiling water. There was a large red splotch on the back of his hand, and blistered splatter marks up his arm.

The little boy woke and whined, starting to cry when his burn was exposed to air again. His mother shushed him, but he started to wail. The sound cut right through Zuko.

“It’ll feel better soon,” he said, almost desperate. “I promise.”

With his mother’s help, they placed his hand in the water. The child shrieked, probably due to the expectation of pain rather than actual discomfort—Zuko doubted there were many nerve endings left on the skin.

He put his hand over the boy’s own and reached to the water—he couldn’t do much, but he had experimented a little at the oasis and figured out how to cool water down to icy levels.

That’s when he felt it.

It was… like a disruption to the push and pull. A disharmony that was every bit as unpleasant as the child’s shrieks. Zuko was a vessel for chaos, but this felt outside the normal chaos/order balance. It was wrong.Even Vaatu lived within the harmony of life, even if he used mostly minor and sharp notes.

So, using the push and pull of the water, Zuko sought to bring the disharmony back into balance between chaos and order.

The water flashed a brilliant, blazing blue.

The mother shrieked in surprise and yanked her son’s hand away. Then she stared. They both did.

The boy’s hand was whole and new again. Only a little pink where the worst of the burn had been. The boy’s crying cut off and he opened and closed his fist. Then he started crying again, hiccupping, “My arm hurts!”

The places where his arm had not been submerged was still burned.

The mother stared. “Did you just…?”

“I wasn’t sure if I could,” Zuko said, flushing, just as stunned as she was. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”

She sucked in a breath. “Can you heal the rest?”

“I… think so?”

She nodded decisively. “Try.” Then she coaxed the little boy to submerge the rest of his arm in the pan. “Keep it still, Li. The nice man will make it all better for you.”

That was a promise Zuko hoped he could keep. Nevertheless, he felt the disharmony again. With the blue healing water, he brought it back into balance.

When the boy lifted his arm, it was completely clear of marks. There was a chance, too, the new pink skin on the back of his hand would fade with time.

“Thank you, thank you, _thank you_ ,” the mother said and bowed, then decided that wasn’t enough and hugged Zuko with her free arm. “Thank you! He’s all I have in the world. I didn’t know if… How can I ever repay you?”

“I don’t need your payment,” he said roughly, pulling away stiff and embarrassed.

She stilled, seeming to notice the color of his eyes for the first time. She recoiled, but did not run or scream. “How can you be a waterbender?”

Zuko opened his mouth, and was thankfully interrupted by a new voice.

“Excuse me?”

They turned to see an older woman who was holding her own bandaged arm. “Did I see what I thought I saw? You are a healer?” She gestured with her chin at the hospital. “They said They couldn’t see me—cut’s too minor, but my aunt died when a cut went bad…”

Zuko swallowed, nodded again to the mother, and gratefully turned to the new woman. Her appreciation made him uncomfortable seeing as he had been using her son to practice bending. “Yes, I can help but…” He glanced ruefully at the pan. “I think I should use fresh water.”

* * *

Healing the woman’s cut—which, unlike the boy’s, was minor and could have probably only used a few stitches—drew more attention from others seeking help. Soon, a second line started around Zuko. Someone brought him a full bucket of water which was much better than the pan.

He was just looking over a young earthbender’s swollen and sprained ankle when a creaky voice called out.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Zuko looked up. Healer Yugoda stood not three feet away, her hands on her hips. Toph stood next to her with her wet hair up in a fresh bun and a wide grin on her face. He had no doubt who had ratted him out.

The earthbender’s wife turned to Yugoda. “This boy is a healer! He’s helping the people you wouldn’t!”

“Oh really.” Yugoda’s voice was as dry. “Well, let’s see it then.”

Zuko knew a challenge when he heard one. Nodding stiffly to her, he knelt, plunging both his hands in the bucket. He sensed the disharmony in the strained tendons and eased it.

With a grin, the earthbender stood, stepped his foot out of the bucket, and kicked a rock over the next building. A small cheer broke from the people watching.

Toph scoffed. The earthbender’s form had been terrible.

“That is quite enough!” Yugoda said, crossly.

One of the cheering men turned to her. “The boy means no harm, Yugoda—“

In answer, Yugoda reached over and grabbed Zuko under the arm, hauling him up to stand with shocking strength. He could have broken her hold, but she turned to address the crowd. “You ought to be ashamed of yourselves—you know I have a half dozen men unto death in the infirmary—some of you brought them in!” She glared harshly at the man who’d had the sprained ankle. “Instead, you use the strength of a healer for your own minor complaints—“

“Some of them weren’t minor—“ Zuko started.

She issued such a glare at him, his mouth snapped shut.Her look reminded him of his mother.

“Shame on you,” Yugoda said again to the crowd. “Your injuries will keep for a night or two, and theirs will not. If you’re still bothered, come back tomorrow.” Then she turned to Zuko. “You! Come with me.”

Zuko didn’t have much of a choice. She still had a vice-like grip on his arm and was hauling him back. He knew many ways to break her hold—even without bending, but he felt as shamed as the people she’d yelled at.

Toph was grinning, wide and jaunty, following him. When he glanced at her, she made a shooing motion.

“Sorry, Turtleduck. You gotta take your lumps.”

He scowled at her and then turned to Yugoda, who was hustling him back into the hospital house. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask permission, but those people needed help.”

“A boy healer, Tui and La preserve me,” Yugoda muttered. “What is this world coming to?”

“Excuse me?”

But then Yugoda pushed open the next door. Beyond lay a half dozen large Earth Kingdom men laying on several beds. There was an equally large tub of water to match.

Yugoda pushed Zuko to the tub. “You, sit at the tub. Mouth closed. Hayoon! Jiwoo!”

Two more Earth Kingdom nurses bustled in. Not, Zuko saw, the nurse Toph had bribed.

Yugoda gestured to the closest, groaning man. “Help him in.”

Hayoon frowned. “Yugoda, you need to rest. You can’t keep pushing yourself—“

“I will not be carrying the bulk of the work.” She pointed at Zuko. “He will.”

The nurses turned to stare.

“Um,” Zuko said.

But the women shrugged and helped the man who looked only half-conscious in the tub.

Zuko looked down at him. One side was completely mottled with bruises. His stomach was the worst—black looking blood seemed to float underneath the skin. “What happened to him?”

“Crushing damage,” Yugoda said as calmly as if they were talking about the weather. “These men tried to protect their farm from earthbending bandits. It’s become dire in the country after the most recent Fire Nation raids. You’re looking at internal injuries. He’s bleeding inside. The best I’ve been able to doby myself is keep them alive. But with your help, they may have a chance.”

He felt a flare of panic. “I… I don’t know how to fix this.” Sprained ankles, minor cuts and burns were one thing, but how was he supposed to fix bleeding on inside of someone’s body?

“ _I_ will direct the healing. You,” she poked a finger into his chest, “will only provide the power.”

“How?” Zuko asked.

“Focus on the energy, but leave it to me to unknot the chi.”

“I don’t understand—“

Her face relaxed. To his surprise, she reached over and patted his hand. “Usually, we begin students young to standardize the process. Older students starting out tend to see chi differently. Some see it as a knot to unravel, others a sticky darkness or a sense of dread. What do you feel?”

“Disharmony,” he said.

“Think of that and let the power build, but I will direct it where it needs to go.”

Zuko sucked in a bracing breath, then nodded. “Okay.” And he stuck his arms into the tub up to the elbows.

The disharmony was overwhelming, like a tsunami trying to swamp him.

But thanks to his understanding with the moon, Zuko knew what it was like to be drowned and come out on the other side.

The entire tub of water glowed blue. Yugoda muttered something under her breath about teenagers with more power than sense, and then began to shape the water.

He sensed the difference between them at once. Zuko had pretty much hit everything with a fireball to see how it burned. Yugoda was precise as a scalpel—powerful, but knowledgeable. Zuko wasn’t sure what she was doing, only that the damaged tissues responded to it. The terrible disharmony eased by degrees. Until finally, it was gone completely.

The nurses helped the now peacefully sleeping man out and brought in another, just as badly injured.

He and Yugoda began again.

And again.

And again.

Zuko was aware that the nurses were pressing him and Yugoda to eat, but neither wanted to break. To break would be to let some of the exhaustion in, and neither could afford that. Eventually, Toph shooed them away and they went to work for the last time.

Yugoda healed the sixth man with a badly mangled leg. The crushed bones would reknit in time but they were at least in the right shape and places again. Eventually, he would walk.

“Up you go, Turtleduck,” Toph said, helping him back to his feet.

He grit his teeth, trying not to wobble where he stood. “You shouldn’t… you’re not recovered…”

“I’m as good as new. You’re the one who looks awful.”

“I… hate you,” he groaned.

She cackled and led him to the nearest bed. It was by a window and the waning moon beamed down on him. That was all he had time to think before he passed out cold.

* * *

He woke to the smell of fish stew.

The healer woman, Yugoda, shoved a bowl in his hands. Zuko had the chopsticks in his hand and was swallowing his first bite before he was fully awake. But he couldn’t have stopped himself if he wanted. He shoveled the chunks in and slurped the liquid, heedless of proper manners, and only slowed when the pinch of hunger in his belly eased.

“Eat,” Yugodasaid flatly. “Then you and I will talk.”

He did, though slower, and was able to taste it. The stew was salty but incredibly satisfying.

“Where’s Toph?” he asked between bites.

“That girl,” Yugoda sounded equally frustrated and fond—a common reaction to Toph, “Is the most unladylike Lady I have ever seen. She’s no doubt outside, throwing boulders around.”

Zuko nodded. “The men from the last night?”

“All are well enough to have been discharged. We now have six new beds.”

Some of Zuko’s tension eased.

Yugoda regarded him. “Tell me: How does the prince of the Fire Nation come to have waterbending?”

He jerked, nearly dropping his chopsticks into his nearly empty bowl. “You know who I am?”

“I knew who you were the moment you stepped inside my exam room. The Avatar and his companions brought stories of travel to the Northern Water Tribe. You were easy to identify.”

Zuko winced. “If you’re from the North Pole, what are you doing here?”

Her blue eyes flashed. “That is my business, not yours, young man. And you have not answered my question.”

He suspected he would be water-whipped out the window once he mentioned the Tree of Time, so he skipped ahead a bit.

“The um, Spirit of the Moon gave me the knowledge of water and sent me here.”

She narrowed her eyes. “That is a powerful claim.”

“It’s true,” he said stiffly.

“Then tell me, what did the Great Spirit look like?”

“You mean, Princess Yue? She was Water Tribe. White hair, blue eyes… Pretty?”

Yugoda held up a hand to stop him. “Yes, you have seen her. I helped deliver her from her mother, myself. She was… a lovely child.” She stared at him for a long moment, and he could see gears turning in her brain. “Last night,” she said abruptly, “you exhausted yourself healing six _Earth Kingdom_ men.”

“I know. I was glad to do it.”

“Well,” she said and sat back. “Well, well, well…”

Zuko set his bowl aside and waited. He was not a patient person by nature, but had learned some from the Earth.

Also, he learned from Toph that sometimes people said more when the other person was silent. Zuko was not the best with words. Sometimes, it was best to be quiet.

Finally, Yugoda spoke again. “Lady Beifong claims to be your so-called earthbending master. Is it true? The spirits have given the world a second Avatar?”

Zuko decided he was getting Toph some sort of interesting rock for having this awkward conversation for him. Good Fire Nation milk jade, should he ever see it again.

“Yes I am, but it’s… a long story,” he admitted.

“Those who knew the signs of the spirit world warned us the Tree of Time would one day open and bring great change. I never thought I would see it in my lifetime.” She eyed him. “Does the Great Spirit blame the Water Tribe for holding the land where he was imprisoned?”

 _Why would I waste my time?_ Vaatu said. _The Northern Tribe has been under Raava’s thumb for centuries. They are happy to live within her prison._

Zuko shook his head. Sometimes, Vaatu spoke in more obscure riddles than Uncle. If Vaatu wanted him to do anything, he would have to ask Zuko directly.

“I think he blames Raava, not… humanity, in particular.”

Yugoda nodded as if unsurprised and clutched the fur shall around her shoulders a little closer. She seemed unhappy. “If you are a new Avatar, you must be seeking waterbending master.”

His heart picked up pace. “Yes. Could you—”

“I cannot teach you,” she said, gently.

“What?” he asked, startled, “Why not?”

“Because in the Northern Water Tribe, women are only taught to heal with their waterbending, not as a martial art. And the boys learn combat, but never healing.”

Zuko sputtered. “Why?”

“Tradition, and the weight of expectation from all the generations before us. Even then, not every girl has the skill or the wish to heal.”

“So the girls who don’t have the talent to heal… what, _never_ waterbend? At all?” He was appalled. How did Katara come to find a master? Did Avatar Aang ask for special dispensation?

“Oh, they still find some way to practice their skills.” Yugoda’s tone and expression did not change, but her words were very dry. “Laundry, cleaning spills around the house. Proper _women’s_ work.”

He shook his head, not understanding why those didn’t poison their husband’s meals.

 _For the same reason you did not willfully disobey the Fire Sages as a child,_ Vaatu told him. _As she said, tradition and the weight of expectation._

Zuko scowled at him in his mind before he turned back to Yugoda. “But what if I _want_ to learn to heal? Are you willing to teach a boy?”

For the first time, she seemed truly surprised. “You truly wish to learn to heal?”

“Are you kidding?” Zuko opened his hands. “The first time I tried… I healed a child’s burn. He would have had those scars for life, and now he won’t. And how we helped those men… Now they’ll go on to live full, productive lives.” He shook his head, amazed. “There’s been so much damage done to the world. I think… I think the war is only a symptom of it. It’s my duty to learn how to fix what I can.”

Yugoda looked like she did not quite believe what he was saying. “But I cannot teach you how to use waterbending in combat,” she said again, slowly, as if to make sure.

“I have fire and earth if I want to fight,” Zuko said. “Water will be different.”

A few rooms away, the sound of nurses greeting the first patients of the day filtered in.

Yugoda stared at him, then nodded once and stood, clutching her fur shall around her shoulders. Her blue eyes, hidden within the wrinkles, were bright. “Come, apprentice, the hospital opens soon.”

* * *

“So you’re going to stick around?” Toph asked, when he met up with her later that afternoon. She had, indeed, been throwing boulders around—rolling them into a wall on the North side of town to guard against more bandits.

Zuko looked around. The dry desert behind them, the mountains in the distance, and the prosperous town in the middle. Very different from the Fire Nation. They were not far from the Serpent’s Pass, but was not a hint of the sea to be seen. “It’s not such a bad place.”

“No,” Toph agreed. “All their good earthbenders went to war. They need some shoring up around here.”

He felt his shoulders relax. “So you’re staying?”

She punched him on the shoulder. “Relax, Turtleduck. Granny Yugoda and I talked it over while you were snoozing last night. She gets you in the morning, and I get to throw rocks at your head in the afternoon.”

Zuko felt himself smile. “Yugoda’s putting us up at her house. She has a couple of beds in the basement. She and the nurses sleep in the attic.”

“Good. Sleeping outside is fun, but I’m ready for three square meals that you don’t cook.”

He shoved her with one arm. “What’s wrong with my cooking?”

Toph cackled and got to her feet without answering.“Come on, I’m all better now and you’ve got some training to catch up on.”

And if there was any doubt that Toph was better again, it was erased when it took her thirty seconds to bury him in a rock-a-lanche.

* * *

Zuko lay awake in his cot bed, listening to Toph snore from the other side of the room. He stared up at the ceiling, his hands laced under his head.

"Vaatu, where's the other Avatar?" he asked.

_Why?_

“I searched for him—“ _obsessed over capturing him_ “—for close to three years. It's strange… I haven't thought of him in days."

Vaatu shrugged within his mind. _You do not need Raava’s vessel to return to the Fire Nation. Now, you can show the Fire Lord the world's newest Avatar. Won't he be proud,_ he added scornfully.

His words were like darts of pain to his heart. Zuko sucked in a breath and another, blinking furiously and trying not to give into the tears. He could have raged against Vaatu… but it was exactly like raging at himself.

He was so, so tired of hating himself.

"I don't think my father will ever be proud of me, will he?"

Vaatu’s silence spoke volumes.

Old grief dug its claws in deeper into his heart. "I can never return to the Fire Nation."

_Why not? You are the Avatar of Chaos. One man's rules are nothing to you. Let him send his forces, let him come and stop you himself. Once you master the elements, your power will far exceed his own._

Zuko let out a laugh that was a little wet at the end. "In all the plays I've seen, too much power ends up going to the person's head. It always ends in tragedy.”

_Ah, but that is why the universe does provide a very important check on your power._

"Raava," he said.

_And we are her check in return._

That made him feel better. Vaatu scoffed at society's limitations, but Zuko was far too used to having his world sorted by an understandable hierarchy.

“That brings me back to my first question: Where is Raava?"

 _Closer than you think_ , Vaatu said. _But about to be much further away._

"What do you mean?"

The spirit answered in a dark chuckle. _I sense you have upset many of her plans._

Zuko frowned. "I have? But... I haven't done anything but learn earthbending and healing."

_Every broken body you heal has had their destiny altered, ever so slightly, by a force of Chaos. Men and women who could have died, or left injured long term now walk a different path. Some will have no effect on the world. Some will inspire much change. You are doing well, Vessel. You are building the foundation for great things._

"I hope so," he muttered. If he was going to trade in his destiny to be Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, then it needed to be for something worthwhile.

 _You are sowing the seeds of change, but this has been Raava's world for ten thousand years. Her agents are many, and her foundations are strong,_ Vaatu said. _Be watchful, Vessel._

Zuko frowned, but Vaatu would say no more.

* * *

Being an apprentice healer was not easy.

Healing was not a matter of throwing his will behind alleviating disharmony. That track worked for minor injuries, but there were scrolls and scrolls of techniques to learn. Just as many as there were firebending katas. Perhaps, even more.

At night he studied the scrolls like he had once poured over his rare collection of scripts and plays on his ship. It was hard work, but… surprisingly satisfying.

And then, there was putting the healing into practice.

For all his personal suffering, Zuko had lived a sheltered life. He had been miserable, but he had not seen others in misery.

It helped he was able to alleviate it.

There were some things that water healing—even with his immense store of power behind it—could not fix. Old age, certain tumors, and birth defects.

Thankfully, those were the rare exceptions.

As the days wore on, Yugoda unthawed towards him, and even offered a rare smile. She was a calm woman, giving the air that she had seen it all and there was nothing in the world that could surprise her. The sheer amount of medical knowledge she could bring to bear was huge.

Zuko didn’t know her age, but guessed she was older than his ancient aunts, Li and Lo. However, Yugoda was always on the move. When she wasn’t healing, she used her waterbending skills to cook in the converted kitchen or helping the nurses clean. Zuko, who was used to keeping himself busy… was frankly amazed.

She never spoke of the North Pole, or why she had left.

So it was a surprise, after a very long day swamped with so many people even Toph didn’t want to drag him away for earthbending lesson, Yugoda sat back and rubbed her eyes.

“You have a rare talent for the healing arts,” she said. “Very rare, Zuko.”

He blinked. “But I thought you said the women of your tribe normally—“

“ _Some_ of the women, but not many had the sensitivity and power you do. I’ve only seen it once before.” She looked out the nearest window and then sighed, “But that girl did not want to heal. She wanted to fight.”

And she had likely been denied. He felt bad for the girl, whoever she was.

“My ability didn’t come to me naturally, but I received it honorably,” he admitted. “Princess Yue. She… ah…” He was not going to admit she kissed him. “She gave me a gift—I think this was it. Healing.”

Yugoda patted his hand. “Then it was meant to be. You are doing her work. She should be proud.”

“I hope so, but I don’t think she liked me very much,” he said ruefully.

Then Nurse Hayoon poked her head in and told them they had a new patient: A woman who’s pregnancy was overdue.

Zuko and Yugoda set down their dinner and got to work again.

* * *

One afternoon, several weeks after he started apprenticing, Zuko returned from getting the dust beaten out of him by Toph, to find Nurse Hayoon waiting for him at the front door.

He took one look at her anxious face and asked, “What’s wrong?”

She wrung her hands. “I don’t know. Several men—Water Tribe men—demanded to speak to Yugoda. None of them were sick or injured, but barged in before I could do anything. Yugoda told me to leave. They’re in her office—“

Zuko pushed past her, Toph followed right behind.

They rushed down the hall and Zuko did not bother to knock before entering.

Yugoda sat in a seat, her expression as still as a pool of water. No less than eight large Water Tribe men stood around her.

“It is an order from your Chief,“ one of the men was saying. He broke off and they all turned as the office door opened.

“What’s going on here?” Zuko asked.

“Who are you?” asked a square-jawed man with beads in his hair.

Zuko scowled at him. “Her apprentice. Who are you?”

That got a stunned silence and several guffaws.

“Well, that is the ugliest girl I have ever seen,” said one man.

Toph spoke up. “Are you okay, Granny? Need us to take out the trash?”

“No, that is not necessary. Yakone and his men were leaving.” Yugoda stood and turned to the man who was probably the leader. “Please give Chief Arnook my apologies, but I am needed here much more than in the South Pole.”

“I told you, you’re a deserter now. You’re going to stand before Chief Arnook and tell him why you never made it to the South. You are going back home.”

“You heard her,” Zuko said. “She’s not going with you.”

Yakone gestured to two of his men. “Tulugak, Nooka, get rid of them.”

With a grin, one of the men gestured. A vase with fresh flowers exploded as he froze the water within. He threw the chunk of ice directly at Zuko’s head.

Zuko was not a combat waterbender. But he had plenty of fire.

A burst of flame—when had his fireballs become so effortlessly large?—vaporized the ice to steam. A shocked yell went up from the men.

And that was when the earth surged up from under them, thanks to Toph. The foundation of the house was set low to the ground, and several columns of earth launched men out the closest windows.

Zuko winced at the damage being made to the hospital, then ducked under a wide swing from one man’s sharp. He countered with a blast of fire that threw the man back.

“Yugoda! Get out of here!”

Ducking, the small woman ran between Toph and Zuko toward the door—and stopped, midstep.

They _all_ stopped.

It was as if someone had reached inside Zuko, into his flesh, into his blood and squeezed. His arms flew out to the sides as if they had a mind of their own. Ridged, he could not turn his head, but saw Toph was affected, too. She grunted with effort, but her muscles were locked.

Yakone was the only one moving. His hands were up, fingers curled like a puppet master Zuko once saw as a child.

Grinning almost manically, Yakone strode forward. He leaned close, inspecting Zuko’s scar. “You… I’ve heard of that scar. Well, well, Yugoda, you have kept some interesting company. It wasn’t desertion, was it. You have been conspiring with the Fire Prince.”

Zuko wanted to bite something back at him, but his jaw was locked shut.

_‘Vaatu, help! What is this?’_

_A very powerful expression of Order,_ Vaatu said darkly.

Yakone’s fingers twisted, Zuko felt the muscles in his throat close up, the sound of his heart pounding in his ears… and everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my Tumblr for Avatar stuff, memes, and fanfic rambling.  
> awesomeavocadolove.tumblr.com


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> **Wan:** What? There are other Lion Turtles?   
> **Spirit Aye-Aye:** Of course there are! Dozens of them! Boy, you humans are stupid too.
> 
> _\- Beginnings, Part 1_

Zuko’s mind floated gradually back to continuousness. He was laying on his side in recovery position, hard floor under his shoulder, hip, and good ear. His world was… moving under him. He heard and felt a rumble and a slight sway as if he were in a cart pulled by animals. And every muscle was as sore as if he had been through one of Toph’s earthbending endurance training sessions.

He heard a hollow thud from close by. The vibration rumbled through the floor, but his earthsense told him nothing.

“Vaatu?” he asked fuzzily.

The spirit did not answer. Zuko got the impression he was in a sulk from being so easily overpowered by ‘an expression of Order’.

Fingers fluttered at his neck. “He’s coming around,” Yugoda said.

Zuko winced, shifted, and blinked his eyes open. He lay in semi-darkness, squeezed into a small box-like room. Yugoda sat on one side, looking haggard. Toph stood on the other, scowling at the metal walls.

That was when Zuko realized what he was seeing.

They were in a transportable metal prison cell used to contain strong benders—most likely being pulled by ostrich-horses via cart. He had seen these prison rigs before, from the outside. They were solid metal boxes with slats at the top to let in air, and a small drain on the bottom for… waste.

The metal wall was unbendable to an earthbender, and so thick he had no way of melting through it without burning himself or everyone else. Waterbending would do nothing to help, either, even if he did know the combat forms.

“Take it slow,” Yugoda advised, helping him to sit up. “You’ve been out for nearly an hour.”

His head pounded. He shut his eyes, trying willing the ache away. “What happened?”

“They set fire to the hospital.” Yugoda’s voice was, as always, calm. But there was a deep well of pain hidden there. It had been her home, too. “I heard Yakone blame it on firebenders.”

He closed his eyes. “Did anyone actually believe that?”

“Doubt it,” Toph said bluntly, “but it’s not like anyone in the town could fight back against Creepy Bender and his friends. Me and you are going to be sold off to the first Earth Kingdom general they see. You, as a high-value hostage, since you’re a prince. Me, as a traitor to the Earth Kingdom.” She jerked her chin to Yugoda. “Granny’s going to be shipped up north back to face her Chief’s justice.”

Zuko froze. There was a lot to unpack there, and he wasn’t sure where to begin. “I’m… Uh, not as high value as they think I am—I haven’t been Crown Prince for a long time.”

Toph shrugged an answer, turned, and slammed the back of her hand against the wall with another hollow clang.

“I tried to tell you,” Zuko offered.

“Tell that to all the rock-squat’s you’ll be doing once you get out of here,” she replied.

Great. _That_ was something to look forward to. He rolled his shoulders, trying to get the worst of the soreness out. “What did Yakone do to us?”

Toph frowned and turned her face away. “Ask Granny.” Then she slammed the wall again.

Zuko had no idea what she was up to, but better the wall than his face. He turned to Yugoda who had remained pensively silent. “It felt like my body wasn’t my own. And I think he cut the blood to my brain to knock me out. Bodybending?”

Yugoda pinched her lips together. “I’m not sure.”

“My feet can’t see a thing in all this metal,” Toph said, “but I hear a ‘but’ in your voice.”

Slowly, Yugoda nodded. “There have been stories of similar powers among my people… but Yakone cannot possibly be using it.”

“Why not?” Zuko asked.

“Because it requires a fool moon.”

Zuko rubbed at the bridge of his nose, trying to ease his headache. “Tell us, anyway. There might be a clue or something.”

Yugoda sat up straighter, taking a pose that took on the air of a teacher. “In the time before Avatar Kuruk, the last water-born Avatar, there was a dispute for the Chiefdom seat. The Chief died early and unexpected, and his closest male heir was only three-years-old. The governing council decreed the seat to the child anyway, skipping over his eldest daughter who was eighteen and the most powerful _waterbender_ in her generation.”

“She was a waterbender?” Zuko repeated, catching her careful wording. “Not just a healer?”

Yugoda gave him the small smile when she did when he had done something particularly well. “When I attained my healing mastery, I was allowed to read the text from the original court scribe. It said, ‘waterbender’.”

“What was her name?” Toph asked.

She shook her head. “She was in disgrace. Her name is no longer spoken, and was not recorded.”

Oh. It was one of _those_ stories with a distinctly unhappy ending. Zuko remembered reading plenty of those while he was educated by private tutors in the palace. He sat back. “What happened?”

“She argued for her right to be Chief. However, she was laughed out of the council chambers because, of course, a woman could not lead.” Yugoda’s lips twitched into a sour smile. “It is said she walked out humiliated and angry. That same night, as the full moon rose, the members of the council rose from their beds and walked, not of their own power, to the palace. Their families followed them, tried to stop them, but could not. Then, one-by-one, the council members took up knives which were waiting and slit their own throats.”

“Once the last man was dead, _she_ walked out of the darkness, her hands outstretched as if she were a puppet master. She declared she was fit to be Chief by blood, and by blood came her power. She would spill more from those who did not bow before her.”

“She was attacked, of course. By the outraged family of the slain council members, and by the guards. But anyone who raised hand or water to her found they, too, could not control their bodies. Worse, they turned against their own allies. Brother fought brother that night.”

“They say she laughed and slaughtered with abandon. Her terrible power ended only when the moon set in the first light of morning. The last remaining guard killed her, and that man declared himself as Chief since the previous bloodline had been tainted by madness and evil.”

“Yikes,” Toph said.

Yugoda nodded. “I have studied the records. Afterward, women who had waterbending skills were only called ‘healers’.”

“She was Chief by blood, and by blood came her power,” Zuko muttered. With stories that carried on through the centuries, every word had meaning. “There is a lot of water in the blood.”

“Bloodbending?” Toph asked. “That’s catchier then bodybending.”

Yugoda nodded. “A waterbender is at her most powerful during a full moon. The Unnamed One needed it to control her enemies.”

“If that’s true, Yakone has taken her technique to the next level. He might even be her descendant.” Zuko rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “How can you fight against someone who can control your blood?”

No one had an answer. It was not a matter of endurance, like with earthbending. Or attack, like with firebending. That left air. Zuko had fought Avatar Aang a number of times—he knew his go-to method: Avoidance.

“The first chance we get, we put distance between us and Yakone,” he said, grimly. “We run for it.”

“How?” Toph asked.

He glanced around. “They’ll have to take us out sometime.”

Yugoda looked pained. “Likely, they’ll open this prison when we are in the middle of an Earth Army encampment. And anywhere we run, Yakone and his men will follow.” She sighed. “I knew one day they would come for me, but I never expected it to be like this.”

That brought up another very good question. “Why did they come for you?” Zuko asked.

She shook her head. “The story… shames me. I love my people, I love my tribe, but I cannot abide by what happened.”

Sympathy tightened his gut. Zuko rested his hand on her shoulder. “I know what it’s like.”

She gave a watery sniff. “When I was your age, my friend Kana traveled to the South. I now know it was to escape a betrothal she did not want. I wish I had known her plan ahead of time… I’d like to think that I would have had the courage to go with her. Now I am old, and most of my life is behind me. When the opportunity came to send our waterbenders and people down south to help rebuild our sister tribe, I jumped at the opportunity.” She was silent for a few moments. “We in the North had cut ourselves off from the world for so long… We had no idea the Fire Nation had all but decimated the South Pole.”

“I’ve been there,” Zuko said, “during my search for the other Avatar. All that was left were women and children. One small village.”

Yugoda nodded and squeezed her eyes shut, pained. “Woman or not, I was a respected elder. But even I did not find out until we were well on the way that it was not simply a mission of mercy to rebuild our sister tribe. ”

The hair on the back of Zuko’s neck rose. He knew where this was going. He was, after all, Ozai’s son. “Arnook intends the South to be a Northern colony?”

She tilted her head.“Colony is not, perhaps, the right word. The poles have always been the territory of the tribes. But yes, he seeks to rule the South Pole as well as the North. We brought more people in one sailing than the Southerners have left, including the men who sailed off to fight the war. By the time Chief Hakoda returns home, his people were to be in debt to Arnook for the aid. Those who still look to Hakoda for leadership will be far outnumbered.”

She shook her head. “I could not abide by it. I would not be part of this… this slow take-over. For once in my life, I wanted to forge my own path. We were already halfway to the South Pole when I learned the truth. That night, I took my own small boat and sailed away.” Her smile was grim. “I may be a healer, but I have learned a few tricks with currents, and the Spirit of the Ocean must have smiled upon me to let me escape. I don’t know how many years I have left, but I have vowed to spend them helping the world heal from the war. I landed in the Earth Kingdom and got to work.”

“That was the most honorable thing you could have done,” Zuko said.It was the highest compliment he could think of. “Arnook’s plan doesn’t hold water. I’ll put a stop to it.”

Toph spoke up. “Plus, does Arnook really think Aang won’t have any problems with this, either? His two best friends are Hakoda’s kids.”

Zuko started to nod and then stopped. “Wait, you know of them?”

She shrugged, a sly smile crossing her face. “We’ve met.”

“What? When?”

“I told you, my first student didn’t show me any respect as a master.” She paused, obviously savoring the moment. “He was a real airhead.”

Deep in his mind, Vaatu laughed.

Zuko stood to his feet, sputtering. “You… _you_ were Aang’s earthbending master?”

“Eh, his earthbending master in name only. Three days of traveling, and we didn’t get to one lesson before I split.” She reached over and poked him hard in the chest. “You thought you were the only one who could keep secrets?”

He reeled back, stunned. Then, as realization struck him, a slow smile grew across his face. “I stole you from under Aang’s nose, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t steal anything, Turtleduck. I am my own person. But… I’ll say you’ve been _decently_ dedicated to your studies.” Then, before Zuko could process that Toph had actually complimented him, she turned to Yugoda. “Granny, get up against the wall and give us some space. Me and my student have some work to do.”

“What do you mean?” Zuko asked.

Toph pounded her fist against the metal wall. “All this used to be part of the earth. I figure, you and me together, we can get it to budge.”

He stared at the solid metal. That sounded impossible, but… Toph was master of the impossible.

He didn’t have his blindfold. Instead, he closed his eyes and focused on his earthsense. “What do you have in mind?”

She struck the metal with a ringing clang and grunted, shaking out her fist. “There’s a few impurities—bits of unprocessed earth still left over. Maybe there’s enough to do something with.”

Raising his eyebrow, Zuko smacked the wall with a hard palm-strike. There was a flash of something. Toph was right. The impurities that were leftover from the manufacturing process were _tiny_. Like trying to pick out bits of rice scattered over a dusty field.

They struck the metal at the same time, pausing to listen/see/sense through the vibrations. Then they struck again. And again. Slowly, the faint impressions of earth within the metal became clearer, but for Zuko they remained just out of reach.

And their racket attracted attention.

“Hey!” one of Yakone’s cronies called out. “Keep it down in there!”

“Make me, ice for brains!” Toph yelled back.

A bucket’s worth of arctic cold water splashed in from the top grate and soaked them all. Zuko yelped in surprise and Toph let out a high pitched squeak. Yugoda just sighed and rang out the bottom of her jacket.

Outside, several of the men laughed. The noise faded as they moved away, their point made.

Gritting her teeth, Toph turned and struck the wall again with a ringing clang.

Then she paused, tilted her head.

Zuko opened his eyes to see her regarding the wall just in front of her nose, grinning.

“What?” he asked. “You didn’t…”

“That’s right! I am the greatest earthbender in the world!” she declared and struck forward with a double fist strike.

The metal warped outward under her blow.

Zuko’s jaw dropped, and Yugoda stood to peer at the dent. They exchanged a wide-eyed look.

Zuko saw his thoughts reflected in the old woman’s eyes: Toph had done the impossible. Since the inception of metal forging, the nations had kept their bending prisoners in cages of metal because they could _not_ break out.

In the space of a second, the world had changed.

Uncaring of all shattering implications, Toph whooped. “You guys ready to bust out of here?”

* * *

Their plan was simple: Break out, knock down whoever was standing in their way, and run like dark spirits are after them.

Toph stood at the back of the metal box, waiting for the signal. She practically vibrated in excitement to bust through.

Zuko exchanged one last look with Yugoda, and she nodded back, her wrinkled lips pinched and grim.

“Okay,” Zuko said. “Do it.”

Toph surged forward with two quick punches followed by elbow slams that dented the metal outward. Then she jabbed her fingers in as if it were hard clay and yanked. With a shriek, the metal plates ripped.

The cart halted under them and several Water Tribe men yelled about the noise.

Toph didn’t hesitate. She yanked the edge of the metal plate downward like a scribe tearing off a thick sheet of paper. The hole was barely large enough for them, but it would have to do.

“Go!” Zuko yelled, pushing Toph forward.

Yugoda was next and Zuko followed, throwing a wall of flame upward to vaporize a sharp water whip aimed for him. Their escape hadn’t exactly been stealthy.

Two Water Tribe men came at him with sharp-edged clubs raised.

Zuko leapt off the edge of the cart and the earth bowed under him as he landed. He sprang back up with a melon sized boulder in each hand and shot them backwards. The stones hit the men and knocked them both back.

Their yells of confusion were satisfying.

Toph was several yards away in a grim fighting retreat, covering Yugoda who was running for the tree line.

 _That’s what we all should be doing_ , Zuko thought, kicking out a crescent of fire before dancing back and raising a column of stone to intercept a second water whip. They needed to break past these men, put distance between themselves and the cart before Yakone—

Almost at the tree line, Yugoda staggered and let out a cry as her limbs became stiff.

“No!” Zuko whirled, looking for Yakone. He spotted the man just in time for Yakone’s crooked fingers to point to him.

Zuko’s arms shot out to the sides, the fire sputtering at his fingers. Toph, too, gave a strangled cry and her wall of earth crumbled into dust.

Yakone made a stiff gesturing motion. In an agonizing lurch, their bodies lifted into the air and floated forward to his command. It hurt—felt like Zuko’s skin was trying to separate from his own bones. Yakone was pulling his blood, and the flesh was along for the ride.

Zuko’s scream came out as a grunt.

Then he was slammed back to the ground, only to be pulled up again, limbs twisting and jerking until he bent into a forced kneel. Toph and Yugoda were on either side, knelt and grunting in pain.

“Well, well, well,” Yakone said, staring down at them. “You three are full of surprises. I’ve never heard of someone bending metal before. And you,” his gaze fell on Zuko. “I thought those ignorant dirt-eaters were insane when they said you were a waterbender, but now I see you earthbend, too.”

“He’s not the Avatar,” one of Yakone’s cronies said. “I’ve laid eyes on the boy myself. He’s an airbender.”

“No,” Yakone mused. “This is something else. A dark spirit in human form, perhaps.”

Yakone looked amused, but his men grew visibly nervous.

“Yakone, if it’s a spirit, we ought not to interfere—“

Yakone silenced the man with a gesture. “If it’s a spirit, it should be purged from this mortal land and sent back into the spirit world. That was Avatar Wan’s decree, wasn’t it?”

Zuko’s curses came out as desperate grunts. He tried to thrash, tried to break free, or even move a finger, but his own body remained locked in place.

Yakone watched him with amusement in his cold blue eyes. “Although,” he admitted, “I may have to tear the spirit from the flesh to do it.”

Then he stepped forward, looming over Zuko. His body blotted out the sun.

Bone deep terror struck Zuko like a bolt of lightning. In his mind, he was thirteen again, bowed before his father. Begging for mercy.

In that desperate moment, the barriers between himself and Vaatu fell away.

During his search for Aang, Zuko had read every scroll he could about the Avatar State. It was said that the Avatar could call upon the power and wisdom of all his past lives to aid him. Zuko did not have access to those. It was only himself and Vaatu.

The boundless power of a great spirit surged through his veins. Zuko lurched up, and his eyes glowed violent purple.

He saw the world in a way no human was meant to see. Chaos and Order, intermingled as if in a great complex tapestry of the world. He saw the three elements he had connected to, within himself.

In his own body, he saw/perceived/knew the earthly minerals that helped make up his flesh and bones, the tiny pulses of energy sent from the lightning storm in his brain to the rest of his body… and the surging river of blood like water.

 _His_ blood. Not Yakone’s.

With the skill of a waterbending healer, Zuko used the water in his blood and _healed_.

Healing blue cascaded through his body, soothing and erasing the micro-tears that bloodbending had caused. More importantly, it overrode Yakone’s control.

Zuko rose to his feet, when he spoke, Vaatu voice overlaid his own. **“How dare you impose your Order over his body. How _dare_ you hurt my friends.”**

Then he swung one fist up, and all of the earth in a hundred yard radius bucked.

Yakone fell backward. His hold on the others broke. From the corner of his good eye, Zuko saw Toph leap to cover Yugoda’s body with her own. A dome of rock shielded them both.

One of the Water Tribe men threw his spear at Zuko’s head. Zuko flicked it away with column of stone. The earth bucked again, and deep underground, water surged upward.

Tipping back his head, Avatar Zuko roared fire.

The rest was a blur.

* * *

Zuko came back into full awareness some minutes later, swaying on his feet. Vaatu’s power was draining from his limbs and left him weak and unsteady.

Dazed, he looked around the charred, muddy, and broken landscape. Boulders as large as carts were uprooted deep from base rock and now leaned against each other like scattered children’s blocks. The cart that had once held their prison was a pile of cooling embers and the ostrich horses were dots on the horizon, still running away.

The group of Water Tribe men huddled together nearby looking singed and terrified on one of the few unblackened patches of earth.

With a rumble of rock, Toph retracted the dome she and Yugoda had taken shelter under.

Yugoda looked around with wide eyes, and Toph tapped one foot against the ground and grinned. “Wow, Turtleduck. Way to get it out of your system.”

He winced. He might have gone a little overboard.

“Where is Yakone?” Yugoda asked.

Zuko lifted a heavy hand and pointed to a rubble of rock nearby. “He’s still alive.”

 _You’re not finished yet,_ Vaatu said.

_‘I know.’_

He had not been in total control while in the Avatar State, but he had retained enough sense to do this.

Turning, Zuko glared at the Water Tribe men, several of whom flinched. “Don’t move, ” he said and received several rapid nods in return.

Then he walked to the rubble and with a sweep of his hand, rolled the stones away.

Yakone, who lay underneath, was barely alive. One leg had a spiral fracture which turned his foot the wrong direction. His jaw was malformed and stuck too far out to the side, and both hands had been crushed to a pulp.

He was conscious, his blue eyes glazed with shock and pain.

It would be so easy to walk away and let him die, but Zuko’s nature was chaos, and he _needed_ Yakone.

So, setting his feet, he cracked the earth deep underneath him. Then, using the trick he’d learned to build the oasis, he pulled the groundwater to bubble upward. It was easy—the water table was very close to the surface.

Then, with his hands coated with blue glowing water, he stepped to Yakone.

“You’re healing him?” Toph demanded. She would have moved to stop him except for Yugoda’s staying hand. The old woman’s expression was grim. Possibly, she guessed at Zuko plan.

Zuko poured his considerable strength left over from the Avatar State into healing. A few minutes later, Yakone blinked and looked down at himself.

“What… What have you done to me?” he asked, voice slurred through a jaw still lurched to the side.

Zuko stepped back. The glowing water dimmed and drained off his fingers to drip back to the dusty ground.

“Your injuries are healed, Yakone. But you will never torment someone with bloodbending again.”

The man lifted fingers which were now twisted and locked into unnatural claws. “What have you done?!” he shrieked.

Zuko raised his voice so that he could be heard by the silent and shocked Water Tribe men. “There may be time to re-break and heal the bones correctly, if you move fast.” Then he turned away from Yakone and addressed his men. “When you return to the North Pole, tell your Chief and anyone who listens that the Tree of Time has opened. The world has a second Avatar, and he does not approve of one Chief holding both poles.”

His voice strengthened and for a moment his golden eyes flickered purple with latent power. “Spread the word that the Avatar of Chaos thinks nothing of self-serving tradition. Men may heal and women may fight if they choose. And if Arnook will not create a safe haven for those who do not fit his mold, then _I_ will.”

Several of the men cowered, nodding. Others looked shocked, and one or two seemed angry.

Zuko turned towards his bending masters.

“Let’s get out of here.”

They walked away, and no one dared to stop them.

* * *

They were out of sight of the Water Tribe men and more than a mile down the track by the time the last of Zuko’s rage and adrenaline faded.

He stopped, raising a rock seat and sinking down on it, scrubbing his face with his hands. “Oh, Monkey-feathers.”

“Just hit you what you did, huh?” Toph asked.

He shook his head, and, cringing inside, made himself look up to Yugoda. “I’m sorry—I know what you must think of me, twisting your teachings like that.”

The old woman sighed and sank down on the boulder, too. “It would have been far kinder, in the long run, to end his life. If he is not properly healed, he will be seen as half a man in the North Pole. A burden to his family. If he is healed, he will be more vengeful than ever.”

“I know,” he said. “But it occurred to me that Yakone would have had to practice to get that good at bloodbending. If not on people, then on animals, and…” He closed his eyes, painful memories of a host of dead creatures filling his mind. Azula was his sister, after all. “I needed him to send a message, and I made sure he was not in any active pain.” Though Yakone’s life would certainly not be _pleasant_ until he found a healer to rebreak and set his bones correctly.

Zuko lip twitched in ironic amusement. “And there is a chance he might reflect on his mistakes, and find a new destiny.” Then he turned and bowed low to Yugoda. “Nevertheless, I’ll understand if you no longer want me as your student.”

She sighed, heavily. Her hand rested on his arm. “You know, the first lesson I used to start the girls with was a healer’s oath to do no harm.”

He stared at her, shocked. “But I never took that oath.”

“I know, child.” She patted his cheek once in a grandmotherly sort of way. “I never asked it of you. I knew I was teaching the Avatar, and the Avatar must sometimes do the things we cannot to keep the balance in the world.”

His eyes stung. He blinked, looking away. Her casual acceptance of his faults reminded him, painfully, of Uncle Iroh.

“You know Granny, you have the old wise woman thing going for you,” Toph observed.

Yugoda flashed a smile. “Thank you, Lady Beifong.”

“Ugh.” Toph stuck out her tongue.

“Zuko,” Yugoda said, and waited for him to look at her before asking, “When you said you meant to create a haven for waterbenders… Did you mean it?”

“Yes,” Zuko said at once, but then had to admit. “But I don’t have a plan, yet. I think there needs to a third option other than the two poles.”

 _There should be many more than that_ , Vaatu said.

“What?” Zuko asked.

“What?” Toph repeated.

He held up a hand shook his head. “Explain, Vaatu”

 _In the time before the first Avatar, there were dozens of Lion Turtle cities in the four elements, spread across the world. Each had its own unique culture and people. They bended in different ways, and governed themselves according to their own beliefs and morals._ He paused, considering. _I suppose the Earth Kingdom still has shades of its former diversity, but that has been in sharp decline thanks to this war. Nevertheless, thanks to the efforts of ten-thousand years of Order, humans have been whittled down to one Nation of Fire to rule all many Western Islands, and one sustainable Water Tribe, with the other on the edge of extinction. Of course,_ he added, dryly, _I do not need to remind you what happened to the Air Nomads._

The full impact of Vaatu’s words struck him like a blow. He doubled over, feeling ill. It was one thing to hear Vaatu rant on and on about Raava’s damage to the world, quite another to finally understand what had been lost.

“Zuko,” Yugoda’s hand clutched his shoulder. “You’ve gone bloodless. What is wrong?”

He forced himself to take a deep breath. Then another. Finally, he straightened, though he still felt sick. “I think… I just realized how much the world’s been damaged.”

 _You haven’t begun to realize the full scope of the damage, or the task ahead of you_ , Vaatu said.

Zuko shook his head. He couldn’t take more in. It was too much.

Perhaps sensing this, Vaatu fell silent.

“Vaatu just told me… You two know the story of Avatar Wan, and how people used to live on the backs of Lion Turtles?”

“Yes,” Yugoda said. “That was how Wan received the gift of the four elements, though I am told by Lady Beifong that your own path has been… somewhat unconventional.”

Toph nodded. “I told you I know the stories.”

Zuko closed his eyes. “Vaatu said there weren’t just four lion turtles. There were dozens. Still four elements, but _dozens_ of distinct peoples within those elements, living on their own lion turtles across the world. All with their own bending styles and ways of life.”

Toph tilted her head. “Sort of like how Kyoshi Island is supposed to be really different from the rest of the Earth Kingdom?”

“Even more than that,” he said grimly. “I know in the past, before the first Sage became Fire Lord under Avatar Yangchen’s decree, the Fire Islands used to rule themselves. They were all different.”

Yugoda frowned and shook her head. “The Water Tribes have always lived in the poles.”

“Are you sure?” Zuko asked. “There are bodies of water all of the world. Why can’t the tribes live there, too?”

“The war, for one,” Yugoda replied with a sad smile.

Zuko stopped, flushed. “Right… But one day, that will end. I know the other Avatar wants to stop it.”

 _And after the instability generated after a hundred-year war, people will cling onto Order as if it is a safety line and not their own doom,_ Vaatu said darkly.

“Together, Aang and I can end the war,” Zuko said, fiercer now. “But if Avatar Aang thinks the world will go back to how it was a hundred years ago, he’s in for a surprise.” He lifted his chin, a sense of destiny falling on his shoulders like a heavy cloak. “Fire Nation colonies are not going to uproot and return back to the home islands. I’ve been to some of them. They are a mix of Earth and Fire—after generations of intermarriage, they are almost their own people. And there are still dozens of uninhabited islands in the tropical Western Archipelago. Previous Fire Lords consolidated the population to the home islands, so there’s plenty of room for anyone from the Water Tribes who want to migrate to tropical waters. Maybe new bloodlines will elect their own Chiefs. Meanwhile, the Earth Kingdom can reclaim towns they lost, and their governors should once again be able to lead their own people… We can do this. It’s only a start, but I know we can.”

He looked up to see Yugoda’s blue eyes shining.

Toph, too, had lost her cynical stance. Her arms loose by her sides, she regarded him in wonder.

“I would like to see a world like that,” Yugoda said with a tremulous smile. “And perhaps retire on one of those tropical islands.”

“Sounds like a fun way to really piss off the Fire Lord and Earth Kingdom merchants of old blood who’ve ruled their city since Chin the Conqueror,” Toph said. “And by that, I mean my parents.”

Zuko found himself grinning, hope and enthusiasm fanning his inner flame in a way it hadn’t for years. It was stronger even than the time he saw the light in the South Pole.

But he had to be absolutely sure everyone was committed. He turned to Yugoda. “What about your hospital?”

At this, Yugoda sighed. “The people in that village made do with their own medics before I came, and I suspect they’ll survive without me. At least I was able to train two nurses in non-waterbending healing. Besides, Arnook will only send another group now he knows where I am. It’s time to move on.”

“Don’t bother asking me if I’m in. I’m _in_ ,” Toph said. “How do we start?”

Zuko focused inward. _‘Vaatu?’_

He really should have expected the answer. _Go east, Vessel._


End file.
